Rubber heel



Dec. 14, 1926. 1 1,610,319

E. J. RAY

RUBBERVHEE-L Filed Feb. 28 1925 l heel unsaleable. When an insert is used as Patented Dec. 14, 1926.

" UNITED s'ra'rs EUGENE J. RAY, OF-BEUERLY, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO UNITED SHOE MACHIN- ERY CORPORATION, OF PATERSON, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

RUBBER HEEL.

Application filed February 28, 1925.- Serial No. 12,416.

various materials among which may 'be men-.

tioned fabric, woven wire, wood, fibrous compositions and the like. The function of such inserts may be to anchor the attaching nails,

stiffen the heel, modify the action of the heel when flexed, cheapen the heel, etc. When a woven material, such as fabric or woven wire,"

is used the insert is died outlof a sheet of the woven material and has raw edges which not infrequently fray, witlr the resultthat stray ends of the threads may be visible at an edge surface of the finished heel and make the a nail anchorage it is sometimes made U- shaped to save material but, even then, there is a considerable waste of material incident to the dieing out of the U-shaped pieces from a flat sheet; It has not been practicable to cut woven material into straight strips of the proper width, which could be done without waste of stock, and then bend such strips into U shape, because of the inevitable kinking of the material when it was 'bent. It has also been customary tobuild up rubber heel inserts with a plurality of separate plies of material secured together by rubber or cement, and it sometimes occurs that the plies ,come apart with the result that the heel is;

damaged or destroyed.

It is the object of the present inventlon to overcome the. difficulties mentioned above and to provide a rubber heel which is im proved as compared with those heretofore known in respect to both durability and appearance while the cost of manufacture is embodiment of the invention herein 'illus-\ trated is made of a textile fabric of appropriate strength. I have discovered that one 'way by which it is possible to make a tubular nail anchoring element from' woven mate'- rials of the kinds referred to which is capable of being bent to the desired U shape without kinking is by disposing the meshes of the material diagonally to the axis of the,

tube. The tube may be made by rolling upon a mandrel a piece of fabric of the proper size which has been cut on the bias. If the weave or mesh of the fabric runs longitudinally of the tube the tube cannot be bent without kinkin but when the tube is made of bias mesh fa ric it may be bent easily to the required shape without the formation of kinks or wrinkles.

- A rubber heel insert'made according. to

the present invention has no raw edges and, consequently, does not fray. Heels in which it is embo ied are. uniform in appearance,

and there are no rejects resulting from the ends of threads working to the exposed surfaces.

In this connection the invention,'in one of its aspects, comprises a process of making a rubber heel, consisting in forming a hollow nail anchoring insert, assembling the, hollow insert with a mass ofuncured rubber, molding the rubber into heel form, collapsin the insert and vulcanizing the insert and ru ber together.

The insert, while in tubular form, may be readily bent to the desired shape and inserted in a rubber heel mold, after which a biscuit of uncured rubber is placed in the mold and 'vulcanizing heat and pressure are applied. The insert is thus flattened and-securely vulcanized into the attaching face of the heel. The resulting product .is an imf proved rubber heel having vulcanized there in a woven fabric insert conformin generally in shape to the outline of the eel and having a continuous folded edge which is regular and smooth in appearance.

In winding the fabric tube a suflicient number of convolutions is provided so that a whole consists of only a single piece of material, the tendency of the plies to separate is minimized or eliminated. This feature of the invention, namely, a multi-ply, one-piece,

when the tube is flattened the insert consists v naiLanchOring insert, the plies of which are approximatel parallel to the tread face of. the heel in w ich the insert is embedded, is capable ofuse in other speclfic forms than i the one herein illustrated, and in this aspect of the invention the insert might be otherwise than tubular in its formation.

The tubular form of insert is particularly advantageous in that it uses no more material than is necessary for providing adequate anchorage for the heel attaching nails, and there is no waste of material whatever in making it. All the manufacturing opera tions involved in its use are simple and easily performed by unskilled labpr, and its use resultsin the production ofa rubber heel of superior durability and appearance at 'a minimum manufacturing cost. While the word rubber.is used herein for convenience to. designate the material of the'body of the heel, it should be understood that it is employed in the sense in which it is commonly used in the trade, namely, as descriptive of any rubber or other sunilar vulcanizable composition having the properties of resiliency andelasticity required in a cushion heel.

Certain specific embodiments of the invention will now be described in detail in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which- Y J h Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a rubber heel embodyin the invention;

Fig. 2 is a view illustratinga detail in the formation of the tubular insert;

Fig. 3 shows portions of a rubber heel mold with the insert located therein;

Fig-.4 illustrates a slightly modified form of the-invention; and

Fig. 5 illustrates a still further modification of the invention. 1

Beferrin now' to the drawings, 10 indicates a hee of any desired size and shape,

- the principal, or body,portion of which is made of rubber or equivalent cushioning material.

A nail anchoring insert 12 is vulcanized into the heel 1O flush with the inner attaching face 14 of the heel and serves toprevent the heel from being pulled ofl' the heads of the attaching nails. The insert 12is made of material less yielding than the rubber o1 the body of-the heel and sufliciently firm to be held securely by the attaching na1ls,which are driven from the tread face of the heel conveniently be U-shaped, as shown through the rubber and the insert until'their heads are seated firmly .upon the insert, se-

curing theheel tightly against the heel base or heel seat of the shoe to which the heel is attached. The area and arrangement of the insert 12 are such as to cover all the locations at which it is desired to drive the at taching nails and to this end the insert may in Fig. 1.

In the illustrated embodiment of the invention the insert 12 is made of woven sheet material, such as canvas or duck. A piece of rubber-frictioned canvas of the proper size and shape '-may be rolled \upon a mandreL16 into the form of a hollow; collapsible tube, as illustrated in Fig. 2. The piece of canvas from which the tube is made is preferably cut on the bias and when it is wound into tubular form the meshes of the fabric are disposed diagonally to the axis of'the' tube. A tube of woven material thus' constructed may be bent readily into U shape withoutkinking and placed in a rubber heel i mold, as shown in Fig. 3, wherein 18, 20 and 22 indicate respectively. the bottom plate, the intermediate plate and the top plate of a singlecavityvulcanizing mold suitable for the productionof a rubber heel. A series of small, upright pins 24, in the bottom plate of the mold, serve to locate and maintain the of which are approximately parallel to the tread face of the heel, saidv element having continuous, folded edges which are cleanly defined and free. from any tendency to' fray.

As vulcanization proceeds the lies of the rubber-coated fabric become vu can'ized securely together and to the rubber body of. the heel, and the finished product is a heel of good appearance and superior 'strength and durability.

If 1t is desired to drive one or more attaching nails in the breast portion' of the heel an additional piece 26 .of the tubular material from which the insert 12 is made may be utilized, as illustrated in the modified form of heel shown in Fig. 4.

Under; certain circumstances it may be desired to provide the attaching face of the heel with a fabric or other covering, as

shown at 28 in Fig. 5, and this may easily v be done since the presence of the insert 12 will :not interfere with the vulcanization andadhesion of such a covering to the heel.

Itwill be observed that there is no waste of material whatever in making .a heel according to the present invention and that all the manufacturing operations are simple and. easily performed by unskilled labor, with the result reduced to a minimum while the heel itself 1s of superior quality.

-' Having described the invention, what is that the cost of manufacture is? claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is: l

1. A nail anchoring insert for" rubberheels consisting of a collapsible tube of woven material capable of being bent to U shape Without kinking.

2. A nail anchoring insert for rubber heels consisting of a hollow tube of woven material the meshes of which are disposed diagonally to its axis.

3. A nail anchoring insert for rubber heels consisting of a hollow tube made of bias mesh textile fabric.

4. Arubber heel having vulcanized therein a flattened tubular fabric nail anchoring insert.

5. A rubber heel having vulcanized in its attaching face a U-shaped fabric insert folded into a plurality of layers and presenting folded inner and outer edges.

6. A rubber heel having vulcanized there in a woven fabric insert conformin generally in shape to the outline of ame heel and having a continuous, folded e.

7 A rubber heel having embedde therein a multi-ply, one piece nail anbhoring insert, the plies of which are approximately parallel to the tread face of the heel.

8. The process of making a rubber heel which consists in forming a hollow nail anchoring insert, assembling the hollow insert with a mass of uncured rubber, molding the rubber into, heel form, collapsing the insert and vulcanizing the insert and rubber together.

'9. The. pocess of making a rubber heel having a nail anchoring insert embedded therein which consists in forming a straight,

hollow, tubular, nail anchoring element,

EUGENE J. RAY. 

